Rarely do I talk about games on this blog, but considering I’ve been doing a few posts on the types of apps I have running on both my desktop and my laptop, it seemed fitting to share it.

To be honest, I don’t play many games. I have an obsessive personality and if I get into something too deep, then it can end up costing me far more than a few hours lost here or there (and that’s not a good thing when you’re trying to run a business, trying to raise to kids, and trying to generally be wise with the way that you’re spending your time).

Anyway, when I was young, I was completely enamored with SimCity 2000 (“reticulating splines“). Though I don’t know if I was really old enough to get all aspects of the game, I was pretty good about filling up a map with a city and then generating revenue.

SimCity 2000

Their tax dollars at work

But then I had to get out of it for a bit. The games continued to get more and more advanced and school, life, and so on became busier and busier.

And then, a couple of weeks ago, SimCity BuildIt was released.

Why I Dig SimCity BuildIt

There has been a lot of back and forth about whether or not SimCity BuildIt is a “good” SimCity game. Truthfully, it’s different in spirit largely because of one of the things that I actually enjoy the most – the timers

That means that for every time you need to produce resources in order to grow your city, you have to wait a certain amount of time until said resources have been completed.

Additionally, you can build anywhere you want to on the map. You’re given a specific area out of which you can start and then you can slowly expand based on the number of resources and artifacts you collect while keeping your sims happy and keeping the city running smoothly.

My City, Twin Peaks

My City, Twin Peaks

For me, timers works really well at curbing the obsessive nature – I don’t have to worry about spending too much or too little time playing the game. Instead, I can only play as long as the current turn allows me to produce whatever it is that I need to, y’know, produce to advance the city.

Another thing that I like about the game is that you can setup trade with other cities, friends via Game Center, and generally make money by selling off some of your own resources. Generally speaking, I think the trading system is underrated. It’s a pretty good way to make money and to get the resources needed to continue expanding your city.

Anyway, the game’s a lot of fun. If you’re playing and you’re interested in being friends, let me know in the comments (or via an email) and we can link up in Game Center. If you’re not a fan of the current incarnation of the game, why not?

Always interested in hearing opposing viewpoints.